Patna, Dec 9 (PTI) The construction of a multi-storey modern complex of the Patna Collectorate has been completed and it is expected to be inaugurated by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said.
Eight Tuscan pillars which earlier adorned the frontage of the now-razed Dutch-era Record Room of the old collectorate have been preserved and displayed prominently in the new complex in a dedicated plaza.
The new complex comprising three high-rise buildings along with surface and basement parking facilities has replaced a cluster of heritage buildings from the Dutch and British periods which formed the old collectorate, and were demolished in 2022 as part of the redevelopment project.
As per the plan, the Bihar chief minister will inaugurate the new complex on Tuesday morning. Patna’s commissioner, district magistrate and secretary of the building construction department (BCD) will also be present on the occasion, an official source told PTI, requesting anonymity.
The new complex houses offices of 39 administrative departments under one roof.
“Various offices will start shifting from their temporary sites after the formal inauguration,” the source said.
The main collectorate will be housed in the central building with ‘G+5’ floors and a basement, with the district magistrate’s office on the top floor.
The sprawling complex spread over 10 acres is located along the banks of Ganga in the heart of the city, and faces the historic and eponymous Collectorate Ghat.
Two blocks, each having ‘G+4’ floors and a basement, are located on the eastern and western sides of the main block. The east block will house the office of District Board Patna while the west block will have the offices of SDO and DDC, a senior official said.
It was, however, not immediately known if revenue records and records related to the registry department will be shifted to the new complex.
Before demolition, the revenue records were housed in the Dutch-era Record Room and were later shifted to an old building near Gandhi Maidan. Records associated with the registry department were kept in a separate dedicated building for the department, and its office was shifted to an old building in the Chajjubagh area to make way for the demolition.
The construction work carried out by the BCD began on May 18, 2022.
Several top officials of the Bihar government and Patna district administration carried out an inspection of the site on December 7.
The new collectorate was earlier planned to be inaugurated soon after Chhath Puja in November.
Patna District Magistrate Chandrashekhar Singh carried out inspection of the site on October 14 and October 19, instructing the concerned officials to finish work by October end.
In 2016, the Nitish Kumar government proposed to demolish the Patna Collectorate to make way for a new complex, sparking huge public outcry to save it from various quarters in India and abroad.
In early 2016, the then Dutch Ambassador to India, Alphonsus Stoelinga, wrote to the Bihar chief minister, appealing to him to preserve the historic Patna Collectorate as a “shared heritage” and have it listed under the state archaeology department.
In 2019, Delhi-based heritage body INTACH took the matter to the Patna High Court and eventually the Supreme Court in 2020, suggesting to Bihar authorities to build the new collectorate at a different site.
Hearing the petition filed by INTACH, the apex court on September 18, 2020, ordered a stay on the demolition of the old collectorate, which brought some relief to the heritage lovers.
However, the joy was short-lived as on May 13, 2022, a division bench of the top court rejected the plea for preservation, paving the way for its demolition.
The bulldozers rolled in its sprawling campus the next day, as dismantling began with the 1938-built District Board Patna building being the first to face the blows. In the next few days, the British-era structure as well as the Dutch-era Record Room building were reduced to heaps of rubble, triggering grief among heritage lovers and Gandhians.
Some of the key scenes in the Oscar-winning film “Gandhi” (1982) directed by Richard Attenborough were filmed on the old Patna Collectorate campus featuring the record room and the British-era as DM office building.
In 2016, the London-based Gandhi Foundation too wrote to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, appealing him not to dismantle the historic landmark and instead celebrate its iconic architectural heritage.
The centuries-old landmark was neither listed under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), nor the Bihar state archaeology department.
Ironically, it was listed as a heritage structure in the 2008 publication by Bihar government’s art and culture department — ‘Patna: A Monumental History’ — and also found mention on the Bihar Tourism website.
The Patna Collectorate case also highlighted the plight and vulnerability of unprotected historic structures in Bihar and elsewhere in the country, wherein such heritage buildings often lose the battle to the onslaught of modernity. PTI KND ARI ARI
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